Posts falsely claim police require Speaker’s permission to arrest Sharma

Pravin Bhatta

Following the arrest of Sunil Sharma, a lawmaker of the Nepali Congress party, on August 10, social media users claimed that police are required to obtain the Speaker’s permission before arresting a sitting lawmaker while parliament is in session. Sharma was detained by the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of the Nepal Police for possessing a forged certificate from India. 

Immediately after his arrest, users of Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) posted claiming that police are required to obtain the House Speaker’s permission before arresting a sitting lawmaker while parliament is in session. 

“Has the Speaker approved the arrest of a sitting lawmaker while Parliament is in session?” said Ajaya Babu Shiwakoti, a member of the Nepali Congress Central Committee, in a post on the social media platform X on August 10

Within hours of posting, Shiwakoti’s post garnered more than 150 likes and was re-posted over 50 times. The post further managed to get tens of thousands of impressions on the platform. Another post with thousands of views came from a user by the name of Nirmal Prasai, who asserted that the Speaker’s consent was required before arresting a sitting MP.

The claim got more support after Sharma’s secretary, Bibek Limbu, pointed out in a news release from the MP’s Secretariat that Sharma had been detained despite being a sitting Member of Parliament without the Speaker’s consent.

Other Facebook users spread the idea that a sitting MP cannot be detained without the Speaker’s consent. Facebook users Xu John, Nabin Kafle, and a number of others claimed that the Speaker’s approval was not obtained to detain MP Sharma while he was still in office.

Meanwhile, Sharma was granted bail by Kathmandu District Court where the Court noted the case can be investigated without taking Sharma into custody.

Are the police required to obtain the Speaker’s permission before arresting a sitting lawmaker while parliament is in session? We have fact-checked the claim. 

Fact-check

To answer the question, we checked Article 103 of the Constitution. The Article talks about the special rights of lawmakers. According to Sub-Article 6 of Article 103, a lawmaker cannot be arrested while the parliament is in session. But according to the Proviso of the Sub-Article, a lawmaker can be arrested on criminal charges even during the parliamentary sessions. In addition, the Constitution says that if a lawmaker is arrested during the session, the person in charge of the meeting has to be informed.

Furthermore, Rule 248 of the House of Representatives Rules 2079 also stipulates that the Speaker should inform the House if he or she is informed about the arrest of a member of Parliament on criminal charges. Similarly, Rule 225 in the National Assembly Rules 2075 states that the upper house’s Chairperson should promptly inform the House when he or she hears about a lawmaker getting arrested. These rules also allow for a notice to be posted on the board when the house is not in session.

While the Constitution’s Sub Article 6 of Article 103 stipulates that a lawmaker can not be arrested when the house is in session, the same Sub Article also states that a lawmaker can be arrested on criminal charges. Contrary to the claims, the police don’t require prior approval to arrest a lawmaker when the house is in session. 

Hence, the claim that the police are required to obtain the Speaker’s permission before arresting a sitting lawmaker while parliament is in session. 

Claim	Claimed By	Nepal Check Verdict
Police are required to obtain the Speaker’s permission before arresting a sitting lawmaker while parliament is in session.	Social Media users	False